A strategic approach to social purpose

From our road safety advocacy to our innovative trialling of new technology such as electric and driverless vehicles, RAC is driven by the need to improve the quality of life for our members, to help them feel more connected to one another and, through our mobility agenda, to ensure they can move about their State safely, easily, and in a more sustainable way.

With more than one million members in WA, the principles of social purpose and member value are at the centre of RAC. They drive not just our advocacy program but sit at the core of our overall strategy for the organisation. Our efforts to achieve genuine outcomes within our three mobility pillars — safety, accessibility and sustainability — are tracked via our Mobility Index to measure the effectiveness of our advocacy around these key social outcomes. This is how we ensure accountability within our advocacy and how we align it to our broader strategic purpose.

Of course, it’s essential we give meaning to our words, and some examples of how we achieve this include:

• Last financial year, we provided road safety education to over 15,000 primary school students and almost 30,000 secondary school students.
• Our world leading automated vehicle trial in South Perth has travelled 20,000 kilometres on public roads since August 2016. Earlier this year we also partnered with the City of Busselton to deliver the first driverless experience on public roads in regional WA.
• The Australian-first RAC Electric Highway — a network of 11 fast charging stations between Perth and Augusta — has opened the road down south to electric vehicles.

Over the past 114 years RAC has built a famous reputation that is unique to Western Australia.   Our focus on improving the lives of our members and delivering them value at every opportunity has remained fundamental throughout our journey.  In focusing on this as both our social mandate and our competitive point of difference we hope to become not just WA's most valued organisation, but one our members wouldn’t wish to live without.